After Transmigrating As The Female Lead Of A Cruel Novel, I Raised a Big Shot Cat - Chapter 6

Perhaps to mask her awkwardness, Zhou Rutong swiped the card twice before finally placing the cash into the register.

“I didn’t expect you to still use cash,” Zhou Rutong said dryly. Ji Qingyue remained silent.

The surroundings fell quiet instantly. At that moment, a spirited old gentleman walked in. He gave Ji Qingyue a kind smile but looked at Zhou Rutong with eyes full of displeasure.

Zhou Rutong hurriedly looked at her father with a pleading expression, begging him to save her some face.

The old man said nothing. He simply checked the issued receipt on the computer, glanced at Ji Qingyue, and spoke slowly, “Is there something wrong with this price?”

Zhou Rutong panicked immediately, grabbing her father’s hem and shaking it forcefully.

Ji Qingyue, however, remained calm. For one, she wasn’t the one who had manipulated the price. Secondly, when the price appeared and she saw the shy, head-bowed Zhou Rutong, she immediately sensed the other woman’s attempt to show favor.

If she hadn’t feared making things even more awkward by exposing it, Ji Qingyue would have paid more. She didn’t like leading people on with vague ambiguity.

“Dr. Zhou was likely exhausted and made a mistake. Please calculate the difference, sir, and I will pay the rest,” Ji Qingyue said candidly.

The old man nodded in satisfaction. He glanced at his daughter, who was as frantic as an ant on a hot pan, and couldn’t help but roll his eyes.

After re-calculating, the old man actually returned 1,800 yuan. Before Ji Qingyue could refuse, he turned to scold Zhou Rutong: “How many times have I told you? Although our hospital needs to make money, for a young girl willing to give up her entire savings to save an injured animal, we don’t need to charge for the surgery. You’re a big guy, a small surgery won’t kill you from exhaustion.”

Zhou Rutong was baffled by the scolding, but seeing that her father hadn’t overcharged Ji Qingyue, she scratched her head and gave a silly grin.

The old man looked at her with a “hopeless” expression before turning back to smile at Ji Qingyue.

“Little girl, I saw your suitcase outside. Did you just arrive in Shanghai?”

Ji Qingyue shook her head. “I’m planning to leave Shanghai. I was going to travel to another province, but then I encountered the cat. It looks like my travel plans are ruined.”

“I see,” the old man smiled and looked at Zhou Rutong. “I see you’re not tired after surgery. I’ll handle the next clients, you go keep an eye on that cat. This girl has been guarding it all night and her clothes are covered in blood. You should let her go back and change.”

Seeing Ji Qingyue’s exhaustion and her wrinkled, blood-stained clothes, Zhou Rutong nodded quickly. “Look at my brain, I completely forgot. Go back and change. I’ll watch over things here.”

Ji Qingyue looked at the old man and then at Zhou Rutong, accepting the offer without further refusal.

“In case, I’ll trouble Dr. Zhou. I’ll come back in an hour to relieve you so you can go home and rest.”

With that, Ji Qingyue picked up her suitcase and left without looking back.

The Old Man’s Insight

Watching the girl’s retreating figure and then his daughter’s lingering, foolish gaze, the old man kicked Zhou Rutong’s backside in frustration.

“What are you looking at? I advise you to take back those little thoughts of yours. You can’t afford to provoke that girl.”

Zhou Rutong felt wronged. Hearing the second half, she said defiantly, “Why can’t I? Academically, I graduated from a top university abroad. Financially, I own a building in downtown Shanghai, and my eldest sister is the boss of a listed company. How could I not be a match for her?”

The old man looked at his foolish daughter leisurely. “Did you ever wonder why she paid in cash?”

Zhou Rutong was stumped but refused to back down. “Maybe she just likes using cash. Besides, she said she was going traveling, isn’t it normal to carry some cash for emergencies?”

“A little cash? There was at least forty or fifty thousand in that bag.”

Seeing his daughter still unconvinced, the old man added slowly, “She arrived around 10:30 PM. Who carries fifty thousand in cash at night to take a train or plane for a vacation? And did you notice? All the cash she had was old bills, non-sequential. Do you know what that means? It means she didn’t get that money from a bank.”

“Think about it. Who collects fifty thousand in non-sequential old bills these days? Either she’s involved in a crime, or she’s evading someone’s pursuit. But since she dared to come here openly to treat a cat, she’s not a criminal. She’s being targeted by someone powerful who wants to catch her.”

Recalling the girl’s face, as bright as peach blossoms, the old man sighed, “A beauty like that attracts trouble.”

He walked over to the cat, inspecting the sutures and the front paw. “This stitching technique is starting to resemble my style from back in the day.”

Zhou Rutong couldn’t help but roll her eyes. Was he praising her or flattering himself?

She took her father’s words to heart but remained unwilling. “Dad, do I really have no chance?”

The old man stroked the sleeping cat. “That girl is kind-hearted and smart. If you actually ended up with her, you would only be a burden.”

The old man kept some details to himself. It had rained in Shanghai the previous night, yet the girl’s trouser cuffs and shoes were impeccably clean, meaning she hadn’t come from within Shanghai but had just arrived. There wasn’t an airport nearby, but there was a highway. However, her suitcase had a partially torn airline luggage tag. This meant she took a plane halfway and then switched to a private car.

Tracing back her escape plan, it showed incredible boldness and meticulousness. He didn’t say more, mostly because he was tired of Zhou Rutong.

The Hidden Observer

While the old man checked on other animals, he didn’t notice the black cat’s eyes half-open, watching him with a probing gaze.

Bo Shuhan (the cat) roughly understood the situation. If nothing was amiss, she had likely returned to two years ago.

Though not yet certain, Ji Qingyue had once mentioned this experience to her. Back then, when withdrawing money from the bank, she hadn’t thought to use old bills until she overheard two police officers talking about currency reform and how serial numbers could be tracked.

As for how she swapped the money? She played mahjong with an old lady in the neighborhood for half a month until the very sight of mahjong tiles made her want to vomit.

The Hunter’s Rage

Meanwhile, Ye Sishen was consumed by fury upon receiving news from the police station.

He wasn’t surprised that his people couldn’t find Ji Qingyue in Hangzhou. Her ability to escape the Ye household and use her influence at the airport proved her excellence. Thus, losing her in Hangzhou was expected.

Because he held the serial numbers for the cash she took, he hadn’t panicked. He felt the playful thrill of a cat chasing a mouse.

But now, the serial numbers had become a problem!

Those fifty thousand yuan serial numbers were suddenly popping up in countless locations and they were all appearing in Kyoto.

Ye Sishen knew perfectly well that Ji Qingyue wouldn’t hide right under his nose. Therefore, she must have swapped her new bills for old ones.

He was enraged that Ji Qingyue could be so meticulous, and equally furious that the people he set to watch her were so useless! Swapping fifty thousand in cash for old bills is no easy feat, yet his subordinates noticed nothing.

“Useless!” In a fit of rage, Ye Sishen kicked over his desk. Computers and cups crashed to the floor.

Outside, hearing the destruction, the secretary wiped sweat from his brow. He looked at Lin Shuya beside him with annoyance and disgust. He had already said the CEO was busy and in a foul mood, implying he didn’t want to provoke him. But Lin Shuya, arrogant in her status, insisted on seeing him.

She claimed to be the future “President’s Wife,” threatening that if he didn’t announce her now, she would make his life miserable later.

The assistant glanced at Lin Shuya, whose heavy Western-style makeup looked out of place, and rolled his eyes. He had seen Ji Qingyue. While Ji Qingyue’s natural beauty was superior to her makeup looks, she still possessed an exotic grace. Lin Shuya, on the other hand… to put it nicely, it was a failed imitation. To put it bluntly, it looked like a child had spilled a paint palette on her face.

Despite his inner monologue, the assistant dared to knock on the door.

“Who is it!” Ye Sishen barked, his voice laced with hostility.

The assistant entered tentatively. Fortunately, while Ye Sishen was in a terrible mood, he didn’t have the habit of throwing things at people.

Ye Sishen straightened his messy sleeves. “What is it?”

“President, Ms. Lin Shuya is outside and wishes to see you.”

Upon hearing it was Lin Shuya, Ye Sishen’s expression softened significantly. After all, as his former “White Moonlight,” she still held considerable weight in his heart.

“Take Ms. Lin to the other conference room. I’ll meet her in a moment.” The CEO’s office, now a chaotic mess of wreckage, was certainly no place to receive guests.

Lin Shuya left first, satisfied with the answer, and Ye Sishen followed shortly after. One would expect a warm, romantic reunion, but the moment Ye Sishen saw Lin Shuya’s Western-style makeup, his expression soured.

It wasn’t that Lin Shuya wasn’t beautiful, but she simply couldn’t pull off that specific aesthetic, making her look bizarre to outsiders.

Of course, she might have seemed lovely if there weren’t a “perfect gem” to compare her to, but Ji Qingyue was that gem. Looking at Lin Shuya now, Ye Sishen suddenly felt a wave of boredom.

He had originally liked Lin Shuya because of her aloofness and indifference toward him. Now that she was “catering” to his tastes by imitating a Western look, he found it distasteful. Naturally, his mind drifted to Ji Qingyue, the woman who dared to defy him at every turn.

If Ji Qingyue knew this, she would surely call him a lunatic. In original web novels, it’s usually the female lead who imitates the “White Moonlight” (the first love). Yet here was Ye Sishen, who had ignored the original Ji Qingyue for years, suddenly losing interest in his White Moonlight the moment she started imitating the woman he was hunting.

It was pure insanity.

Ji Qingyue, however, was oblivious. She simply sneezed and hurried to finish changing her clothes.

The New Player: The Bo Family

Lin Shuya sensed Ye Sishen’s distraction and felt a prickle of discomfort. He had always treated her with the utmost respect, what was with him today?

Just as she was about to coax him back into a good mood, his phone rang. It was his close friend, Lu Cheng.

“Ah Ye, have you received the letter of intent from the Bo family yet?” Lu Cheng asked.

“The Bo family? Bo Shuhan?” At the mention of that name, a trace of hostility reappeared in Ye Sishen’s eyes.

“Yes. The Bo family’s requirements for this collaboration are very high, but the potential profit is enormous. China has grown strong over the years, and more immigrant families from the older generation are planning to return. If we handle this Bo family project well, we’ll certainly leave a great impression on those old veterans.”

Lu Cheng was unaware of the grudge between Ye Sishen and Bo Shuhan. His mind was entirely focused on the massive chain of interests behind these people.

The Bo family wasn’t the only “white skinned, red hearted” family abroad. These were lineages that moved overseas during the Qing Dynasty, either branches of great clans or true royalty. Though their main houses in China had perished in the great wars, the heritage and resources they took with them were substantial. Furthermore, they held a vast network of international connections. If the Ye and Lu families could leverage this deal, they would surely ascend to a new level of power.

The Wisdom of Elders

Meanwhile, Ji Qingyue had rented a room by the hour to freshen up and was now heading back to the small veterinary clinic.

The old man’s words earlier had seemed ordinary, but Ji Qingyue keenly sensed he had intentionally sent her away. If it weren’t for the cat, she would have left the city immediately. But the cat was still there; even if it was dangerous, she had to go back for it.

Dressed in a sleek black tracksuit, a mask, and a hat, she arrived at the clinic exactly one hour later.

“Punctual,” the old man noted with a smile.

Ji Qingyue gave a polite smile. Zhou Rutong tried to sneak closer to her, only to be glared at by her father again.

“She’s here to relieve you, now get lost! Or do I have to personally escort you out?”

Zhou Rutong pouted, looking back three times with every step as she trudged away. Once she was gone, Ji Qingyue looked at the old man.

“You wanted to speak with me, sir?”

“If my foolish daughter had half your wit, I wouldn’t have to worry so much,” Zhou Qingxiu remarked appreciatively. Then, he stood up and unplugged the security camera.

A watching Zhou Rutong (remotely): “???!!!! You old man!”

“Not at all, Dr. Zhou is lively and cute. That’s how young girls should be,” Ji Qingyue said, half-amused and half-surprised by the unplugged camera.

“Lively? More like a fool,” Zhou Qingxiu said ruthlessly, though the warmth in his eyes was unmistakable. Zhou Rutong was his child born late in life, she was young at heart and a bit spoiled, but he wanted her to be happy.

He turned serious. “Little girl, this old man has some influence. Why don’t you tell me about your predicament?”

Ji Qingyue hesitated. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust him, but knowing too much could put him in danger. What wouldn’t a bastard who illegally imprisons people do?

Seeing her hesitation, Zhou Qingxiu spoke directly: “The Ye family? Ye Sishen?”

Ji Qingyue snapped her head up. Zhou Qingxiu understood instantly; his call with his old friend hadn’t been in vain. Recalling the video his friend sent, the old man’s gaze grew even gentler.

The older generation loves children with backbone. At the airport, Ji Qingyue could have relied on Bo Shuhan to escape, but she stood her ground. Her words were sharp, and though she used external influence to pressure others, she maintained her dignity. Moreover, the old man saw that she was trying to draw Ye Sishen’s fire onto herself.

She was loyal, smart, and proud. If his daughter weren’t so unworthy, he’d have loved her as a daughter-in-law.

“Don’t be surprised,” the old man said. “The elders of the Ye family are gone, so we consider ourselves that boy’s seniors. It’s normal for us old fogies to pay attention when such a commotion happens at the Kyoto airport.”

In fact, they had mapped out her entire escape route within twelve hours of the incident. Zhou Qingxiu had mentally filled in the final stop, Shanghai. He hadn’t shared this with the other old men, as some had “unpromising” children who wanted Ye Sishen’s help.

Ji Qingyue looked at the empty street outside, feeling a bit helpless. “Just a bit of cleverness. In the eyes of you elders, it must look like a mere parlor trick.”

Zhou Qingxiu laughed. “Your plan was excellent. We only ‘bullied’ you because we’ve lived long enough to have wider networks.” This was why old-money families rarely fell, they were all interconnected.

After a moment, his tone shifted. “Girl, are you really content being forced into hiding like this?”

Ji Qingyue certainly wasn’t, but she didn’t believe she could become powerful enough to rival Ye Sishen’s capital overnight. “I’m not content, but there’s nothing I can do,” she replied with a bitter smile.

“Girl, have you ever thought that constant hiding will only make you vanish? Sometimes, being exposed in everyone’s line of sight is actually a form of protection.”

Ji Qingyue looked up sharply. Zhou Qingxiu looked at her kindly. Time had carved lines into his face and taken his youth, but it had left behind the wisdom of an elder.

“I understand. Thank you, Uncle.”

“Haha!” Zhou Qingxiu laughed heartily, then winked playfully. “Actually, I wanted you to call me Grandpa.”

Ji Qingyue realized what he meant and burst into laughter.

The “Aunt” Twist

On her way home, Zhou Rutong’s curiosity was killing her. She doubled back and sneaked to the door, only to hear her father’s boisterous laughter. She pushed the door open.

“What are you guys laughing about?”

Ji Qingyue straightened her clothes and gave a deep, respectful bow. “Junior Ji Qingyue greets her Little Aunt.”

Zhou Rutong: “???!!!! Wait, the person I fell in love with at first sight just became my niece?”

The black cat, Bo Shuhan, watched from the side while licking her paw, her eyes full of disdain: I thought she was a love rival, turns out she’s just a scrub.

However, Bo Shuhan realized something. If she remembered correctly, “she” from two years ago was also in Shanghai.

Could they meet? The Bo Shuhan from two years ago?